First Week

Well, first week is officially over and it was a very busy week. I just got notified that I would be on a project coming this Monday so I'm excited about that. But before I get into my thoughts on the first project, I wanted to touch on a bit about orientation.

Accenture's orientation is a pretty comprehensive set of Core Values. The purpose of the Core Values or the values of any large organization is to build a set of unifying goals and criteria which all employees try to live up to. While most people, maybe included, probably consider the indoctrination a bit unusual, I do understand the importance of instilling a same set of values in all employees. But besides the learning that went on through orientation in fundamentals like resume building and properly filling out a time sheet, the orientation allowed a group of starts to bond. I was personally able to meet some very smart and interesting people from a variety of backgrounds. One aspect that surprised me was that fact that those in our New Joiner Orientation included experienced hires, individuals who didn't just recently graduate. This allowed me to interact with managers and and consultants to get a different perspective.

After orientation was completed by mid week, we moved back to the San Francisco office to continue our training online or in formal classroom settings. These trainings included understanding Accenture policies and practices and training focusing on building skills directly applicable to the type of work each individual would be completing.

While some of the training are long and the going can be a bit slow, I found it interesting the few other organizations provide the same type of formal on-the-job training. I believe it is a key benefit that those in the consulting industry enjoy which isn't directly advertised during recruiting.

However, for me, I got to do both formal training and began the process of learning about my new project. Since the information in the project is confidential, most of the post will be about personal thoughts and not direct action.

As new analysts, one of things that I have tried to do is to talk to as many people as I can from a variety of levels to ask for advice. From these individuals I have spoken to, I have been able to consolidate some key points.

• Listen before you speak. This is an area I'm working towards as I tend to cut someone off and jump to what I think they are asking. Listening allows you to actually hear what they want and in the mean time, formulate a proper response.
  
• As analysts, one of the things we lack is experience. While some people might have joined the firm with prior consulting or industry experience, the majority do not. This means that it is important to began first by observing and learning some of the fundamentals of how an organization like Accenture functions.
  
• Networking and selling and sometimes the same side of the coin. While this doesn't mean you should go about shoving everyone out of the way in your goal to climb the corporate ladder, it does mean you need to think actively about how you want to manager your career. To do that in the beginning is to try to get to know as many people as possible. Each individual in your network can bring information to you that you might not otherwise have.
  
• Finally, my dad gave me the advice that as young, ambitious people, it is more important at our level to contribute not simply by hard work but by delivering value to both our clients and our managers. [Not to be corny, but it does match our motto of "High Performance. Delivered"] Value here doesn't necessary mean more hours in front of a computer, but what those hours are contributing towards.
  

With those tips in mind, I've been working at reading the information I've been given and thinking how I can create value. For now, I think the best way is to understand the big picture as soon as possible because that way, I will know if what I'm doing is contributing correctly. We'll see soon enough where this leads me.